A Visual Feast for the Thanksgiving Viewer : Holiday: Networks showcasing their stars as parade commentators is the main course.

While Thanksgiving Day gives many families the opportunity to reunite over long and large dinners, it is an opportunity for television networks to not-so-shamelessly promote their personalities by showcasing them as parade commentators and for local stations and cable networks to air marathons and classic movies to draw an audience on a day when viewing is traditionally down.

- Parades: All three major broadcast networks will have parade coverage. NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39) will again have exclusive coverage of the day’s most famous parade, the 66th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade from New York City. Because of NBC’s National Football League commitment, the parade will be shown on a seven-hour delayed basis on the West Coast, beginning at 1 p.m.

CBS (Channels 2 and 8) will have portions of the Macy’s Parade on its “All-American Thanksgiving Parade,” from 8-11 a.m. along with Disneyland’s “The World According to Goofy,” the Aloha Floral Parade from Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, and the Santa Claus Lane Parade from Toronto.

ABC (Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42) counters with the 43rd annual Foley’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from Houston at 1 p.m. and the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade at 2 p.m.

- Marathons: On the marathon front, KTLA-TV Channel 5 presents its 13th annual “Thanksgiving Day Twilight Zone Marathon” between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. Episodes include “In Praise of Pip” (5 p.m.) starring Jack Klugman as an alcoholic bookmaker feeling remorse for his soldier son, critically wounded in South Vietnam in what is believed to be the first reference to an American casualty in that country on a dramatic television show; the hourlong and seldom-seen “Printer’s Devil” (8 p.m.), the tale of a newspaper editor (Robert Sterling) who makes a deal with the devil (Burgess Meredith) to save his cash-strapped publication; and “To Serve Man” (9 p.m.), a look at an interplanetary assistance program gone awry.

KCAL-TV Channel 9 counters with “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Marathon” with the animated squirrel and moose outwitting spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m.

On cable, American Movie Classics has Westerns from 3 a.m. Thursday to 3:05 a.m. Friday; TBS offers 18 hours of Clint Eastwood movies from 7:05 a.m. to 1:05 a.m.; Lifetime presents a marathon of Richard Crenna movies from 2-10 p.m. and the Nashville Network presents a four-hour retrospective of Farm Aid concerts from 1985, 1987, 1990 and 1992 between 4 and 8 p.m.

- Movies: “Casablanca” takes the honor as the day’s most-played classic movie, with director Michael Curtiz’s 1942 triple-Academy Award-winning look at a bygone time airing at 5:30 p.m. on Showtime, 6 p.m. on Cinemax and 8 p.m. on KCOP-TV Channel 13.

For the second consecutive year, CBS devotes Thanksgiving night to “E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial” from 8 to 10:30 p.m. A brief sneak preview of director Steven Spielberg’s 1993 release “Jurassic Park” will conclude the telecast.

Showtime and Comedy Central take advantage of Thanksgiving Day’s nickname of Turkey Day to show some of the worst movies of all-time. Showtime presents “Hudson Hawk” at 10 p.m and “Ishtar” at 11:45 p.m. today. Comedy Central begins 30 hours of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” at 6 p.m. tonight with Joel and robot pals Tom Servo and Crow sarcastically commenting on such cinematic disasters as “Viking Women & the Sea Serpent” (4 a.m.); “The Giant Gila Monster” (6 a.m.); “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” featuring Pia Zadora as a Martian child (10 a.m.) and “Gamera vs. Gurion” (8 p.m.)

- Football: The four Thanksgiving Day football telecasts are split equally between the NFL and collegiate games. At 9:30 a.m., the Detroit Lions play host to the Houston Oilers on Channels 4, 36 and 39, preceded at 9 a.m. by “NFL Live” with Gayle Gardner reporting on injured Detroit offensive lineman Mike Utley, who was paralyzed during a Nov. 17, 1991, game against the Rams, updating his rehabilitation as he prepares to attend a Lions game for the first time since being hurt.

Jimmy Johnson, only the second coach the Dallas Cowboys have had in their 33-year history, leads the NFC East Division leaders against the New York Giants beginning at 1 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8.

In college football, No. 2 Alabama takes on arch-rival Auburn at 10 a.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42. No. 4 Texas A&M; faces Texas at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN.